James Kaprielian has been opening up eyes throughout the Yankees organization and now received an endorsement from a Hall of Famer.
Roberto Alomar is the lone player wearing a Blue Jays hat in the Hall of Fame. He is around the Blue Jays organization as a special assistant and attends plenty of games. In a conversation with New York Daily News’ Ken Davidoff, Alomar wanted to know more about the Yankee prospect.
#Yankees prospect James Kaprielian gets a Hall of Famer’s endorsement from Roberto Alomar. #BlueJays https://t.co/iTeWtpjITx
— Ken Davidoff (@KenDavidoff) April 14, 2016
“To me he’s a big-league pitcher right now,” Alomar said of the 22-year-old. “That’s how I see it. We’ll see how he does in the minor leagues, but from what I saw, it was big-league stuff.”
Alomar saw Kaprielian in a minor league spring training game in March.
“We were overmatched,” Alomar said. “This guy, he’s a great arm. He knows how to pitch. Great fastball, great slider, great command. He was overmatching our kids.”
The high praise comes as no surprise. Kaprielian took the mound for the first time in the 2016 regular season for High-A Tampa and struck out nine batters in five innings throwing only 60 pitches. He allowed one run and three hits in the outing. It seems as if the Yankees will keep an eye on Kaprielian’s innings and workload as he is a potential candidate to help the team in September.
The former first round pick is certainly opening eyes and will continue to do so throughout the season making Alomar’s endorsement all the more true.
